I play ‘chicken’ with a contractor’s question! Another needs to ‘double down’ on zero and you can bet everyone learns something about the complexities of contractor licensing laws when you read this Connection…
Q: Can an individual that a Company designates as President, Secretary, and Treasurer own 0% of the company, or are they required to have a certain percentage of ownership?
A: Officers are not required to have a percentage of ownership, even in the case of one individual holding all three Officer titles. If you are asking from a Contractor’s Licensing perspective, if an Officer is acting as a Responsible Managing Officer (RMO) for more than one Active license at the same time, he/she would be required to own at least 20% of each company.
Q: I spoke with you last December about the potential of our Company’s RMO/Owner retiring. He is now ready! As we discussed previously, our Company has the “C-51” (Structural Steel) and the “B” (General Building) attached to our license. I am the Steel Erection specialist/expert. The Owner wants me to take over the license as the Qualifying Individual. I understood I would be able to request a Waiver of the exams based on my employment with the licensed Company. Will it work for both classifications?
A: While you can request a waiver of the exams after a certain period of time, you will still need to document the experience in each classification you are applying to qualify. If you don’t have General Building experience, meaning four years of full-time work experience in the trade, you will not qualify for a Waiver of the trade exam for the General “B” License. If you DO qualify, you can most likely do the replacement for both classifications at the same time.
Q: We are forming a Joint Venture in CA. Do we need to file with the State of California (Secretary of State) first, or does the JV license come first?
A: ‘Chicken’ or the egg? Both entities need to be registered with the Secretary of State and need to be licensed. Chicken (SOS) comes first before the Egg (CSLB) Joint Venture! Didn’t you always wonder which came first?